


The Chaos of First Meetings

by orphan_account



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, everyone is out-of-character, posting for archival purposes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-07
Updated: 2019-03-07
Packaged: 2019-11-13 09:39:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18029264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Prequel to Not So Alone Anymore and Disastrous Date. Bakura and Mariku meet at the newly opened Lexus Café with a bang. Literally. Yugi hates Yami. Seto’s having dog problems. And Malik has horrible luck.||Reposted from fanfiction.net as I clear out old fics from my account there. Originally posted August 10, 2006 and completed November 6, 2006.





	1. Chapter 1

_Chapter 1_

Bakura Khalid curses as he walks down the sidewalk. He kicks a rock, sending it flying off somewhere where it hit's a poor bystander in the head. He continues on, without even noticing that the rock has hit someone. And even if he had noticed, he most likely would have smirked and then carried on.

Up ahead somewhere, the poor bystander is revealed to be Malik Ishtar. Cursing the Gods for his bad luck he throws the rock at the wall of a building, only to have it fly back and strike him in the head again. "DAMN IT!" He yells.

At this time a limo zooms past, spraying water from a nearby puddle onto Malik.

"THIS IS MY NEW SHIRT!"

In the limo sits Mokuba Kaiba. When he hears the yell he glances out the back window to see what's going on. He catches just a glimpse of the soaking wet teenager and winces slightly. "Oops… Aoi, we splashed someone."

"I'm sure that person will be fine, young Mr. Kaiba." Aoi replies. "Now where is it you wished to go?"

Mokuba looks out the window. "There! Stop!" He grasps the seat tightly to prevent himself from flying forward when Aoi brings the limo to a screeching stop. "Wait here for me, okay. Do you want anything?"

"No thank you." Aoi replies.

Mokuba smiles. "Okay!" Then he opens the door and runs off to the newly opened café with the sign reading, in bright blue letters, "Lexus Café". Inside the café, he stops and looks around the place, taking in all the deep colors and the rock music playing faintly in the background.

"Hello and welcome to the Lexus Café! I'll be your waitress for this evening and my name is Ash Phoenix!" A blonde girl says cheerfully, bouncing up beside Mokuba. "I suppose I should first ask if you're staying or going though…" She sighs, her cheerfulness evaporating for a moment before returning. "Anyway, staying or going?"

"Going." Mokuba replies.

"Alright, just hop right over to that counter where my dear friend Alexandrian will help you out. He's the brown-haired one reading the menu for some odd reason or another." Ash says. "As for me…" She grins and heads over to the café phone, hoping to talk to her boyfriend for a bit. But as luck would have it, she's stopped by a customer before she gets to the phone.

Mokuba passes off Ash's oddness for being normal, and heads over to the counter to order his drink.

Meanwhile, Bakura continues down the road in search of something to do when he comes across the Lexus café. Figuring the best way to get over whatever it is that's wrong is to drink an insane amount of coffee, he heads into the new building.

Ash, being the designated greeter for that evening, cheerfully does her job of greeting. "Hello and welcome to the Lexus Café! My name is Ash and I'll be your waitress if you will be dining in!"

Bakura glares at her, annoyed by her cheerfulness. "I'll be staying."

Ash takes down her cheerfulness a notch or two, not wanting to annoy him too badly. The last thing she needs is to make a customer angry and in doing so make Roman Lexus, the oldest of the three Lexus brothers, yell at her.

While she's leading Bakura to a table and getting a menu for him, Mokuba has gotten his coffee and a cup for his brother and is leaving the café. Before he's out the door, the youngest Lexus brother, Nixxus, walks out of the back room and notices him leaving.

"Alex, Roman wants to know if you're thanking the guests for coming." Nixx says. "And I see you're not, so… Thanks for coming!" He yells after Mokuba.

Mokuba pauses and turns around to see who's calling and blinks in surprise. Nixx's jaw drops when he sees that it's a boy and his breath catches in his throat.

' _He's so…_ cute _!'_

Mokuba gives the best wave he can with a cup of coffee in one hand and then leaves.

Nixx lets out a whimpering-like noise and leans against the counter. "Please tell me you got his name."

Alexandrian raises an eyebrow. "Nixx, we don't usually ask our customers for names. And why aren't you dressed in the café uniform?"

"Because it has no pink in it." Nixx replies. "You don't like it?" He steps away from the counter and spins around once to show off his outfit that consists of a pink belly shirt that reads 'My mommy says I'm special' and loose black jeans.

Alexandrian just reaches out and tugs his brother's braid. "No. Go put on the uniform before Ash spots you and makes a big deal out of it or Roman finds you first."

Nixx sticks his tongue out, showing off his tongue piercing, and then goes off to change like his brother asked.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Mariku Leil walks gloomily down the street. For the third time in two weeks his father has kidded him out of the house for Ra-knows what reason. Shoving his hands into his pocket, Mariku raises his kohl lined lilac eyes for a moment to see where he's at before he lowers them back down to the ground.

Dressed in dark jeans and a gray hoody, Mariku can easily slip away into the background and remain unnoticed by the ground. As long as he doesn't try to draw any attention to himself that is.

After walking a bit further, Mariku looks up again to see where he's at. He spots the café a little ways ahead and after a moment of consideration, decides to go see if they have any good food there.

As luck would have it, Bakura's leaving at the same time that Mariku's entering. The result? A head-on collision. Both of them curse and then glare at one another, but are more annoyed than angry.

"Watch where you're going!" Bakura snaps.

Mariku just growls in response and brushes right past the white-haired male with a grumbled, "Go to hell, bastard."

Bakura glares at Mariku and then continues on his way, deeming it not worthy to spend any more anger on the blonde. Meanwhile, Mariku sits down at the counter on the chair that he has claimed his own since two days ago.

Nixx is the first to notice him and so he bounds over to take Mariku's order. "Hey Mariku, bad day?"

"Give me the strongest thing you've got." Mariku mutters.

"Coming right up!" Nixx replies, bounding off to make Mariku's cup of coffee. "Ash, I think Mariku needs some cheering up." He whispers to the blonde girl as he passes by her. "Why don't you go get your cards and play a game."

"One game of Duel Monsters in which Mariku can kick my ass again coming right up!" Ash says cheerfully. She pulls her deck out of the pocket of her apron and skips over to Mariku. Someone has had one too many mocha's.

The duel begins, with Ash starting out in the lead with her cat cards. Then Nixx brings Mariku his strong coffee and the duel begins to turn sharply in Mariku's favor. Less than ten minutes later, a smirking Mariku lays down his final card. "I win."

Ash stares at the cards for a moment before muttering, "Well damn."

"I don't see why you're so surprised." Nixx comments. "You always lose when you duel Mariku."

"By 5000 life points?" Ash questions.

Mariku happily drinks his coffee while Nixx snickers loudly.

"You loser." Nixx says.

"Shove it, pink-boy." Ash replies.

"No arguing!" Roman interrupts loudly. "Get back to work you lazy idiots!"

Ash scrambles out of her chair and Nixx squeaks a little before running off to see if Alexandrian needs help. Roman smirks, pleased by their reactions.

Mariku just rolls his eyes and tosses some money on the counter. "Tell Ash I said thanks for the duel and tell Nixx that next time he needs to lay off the sugar."

Roman nods. "Sure. HEY NIXX…!"

Mariku snickers as he leaves the café, happy that he's gotten someone else in trouble at the café instead of himself for once.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Yugi! Hey, Yugi!" A white-haired boy shouts.

A teen with tri-color hair lifts his head off of his desk to look at his friend, wondering how in the world the boy can be this hyper halfway through the day. Even Joey's exhausted by this time! And he sleeps during class.

"Hello, Ryou." Yugi says dully.

Ryou looks at his friend in concern. "Yugi, what's wrong? I know that it's halfway through the school day and all, but you look more exhausted than you usually do."

"One word: Yami." Yugi grumbles.

Ryou sits down on the bench beside Yugi with an understanding look on his face. "I see. So what happened this time?"

"Matsuko-senshi paired me up with him for our history project." Yugi groans. "So now I've got to go to his house after school or have him come over to mine. This is going to be the worst week ever!"

"There, there, Yugi." Ryou says, patting Yugi on the back. "It's not that bad. It's not like you have to hang out with him all the time or anything. It's just one class and some time after school."

"Ry, I have three classes with him.  _Three_! Do you have any idea how horrible this is going to be? Ever since the beginning of the year he's been trying to get my attention, and now I have to talk to him and give him my attention!" Yugi exclaims. "I have no excuse not to talk to him anymore!"

"You think that's bad. I'm stuck with the rich CEO from Hell." Joey grumbles as he joins the two. "The only good thing out of this is that I get to ride in that fancy limo of his and bug the hell out of him." He sits down beside Ryou, dropping his school bag onto the ground.

He tosses Yugi and Ryou two brown paper sacks. "Sorry. I didn't have much time to make anything this morning, and I haven't had time to go get groceries for a while." Joey apologizes.

"It's alright, Joey." Ryou says. "I brought some extra for us anyway."

Yugi sighs and nibbles at the sandwich he has pulled out of the bag. "I'm not very hungry, guys. You two go ahead and eat as much as you want."

"Yugi, you need to eat more! It's no wonder you're so small! But I really don't blame you for not wantin' to eat after hearing that you're paired up with your worst nightmare." Joey says with a shrug. "You gonna eat the other half of that sandwich?"

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Nixx sighs dreamily as he stares off into space with a half eaten sandwich in her hand. Ash, who's sitting beside him, just rolls her eyes and tries her best to ignore him. However, when her friend sighs dreamily for the ten-billionth time, she has to say something.

"Alright, Nixx. Spill. What the heck are you thinking about?" She asks.

"I saw someone… he was so pretty." Nixx says dreamily. "Pretty long black hair and blue eyes. So pretty."

Ash raises an eyebrow. "He sounds like your brother."

Nixx snaps out of his daydream and sputters. "W-what! He does not! He looks nothing like Roman! He's much cuter!"

"I don't know, Roman's pretty cute." Ash says.

"I'm pretty what?" Roman asks irritably as he sits down.

Ash squeaks and blushes slightly. "N- nothing! Nothing at all, Roman. Nothing. Nixx was just telling me about his crush. That's all."

Roman smirks. "So you really are talking about nothing."

"Hey!" Nixx yells. "Don't talk about him that way! You know nothing about him!"

"Neither do you." Ash points out. "So hush."

Nixx pouts and then goes back to nibbling on his sandwich and thinking about the cute boy he saw at the café.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

A few days later, Yugi storms into Ryou's apartment. "I can't believe this!"

Ryou looks up from the book he's reading, unfazed by Yugi's temper. "Can't believe what? And take your shoes off."

Yugi removes his shoes and drops them by the door before walking over to the couch Ryou's sitting on and sits down beside his friend. " _Him_! We finished the project yesterday and now he wants to keep hanging out like we're friends or something!"

Ryou sighs heavily. It's times like these he wishes he has books on psychology so he can figure out Yugi and his odd problems. "Oh my, that's horrible Yugi."

"Yes! It is!" Yugi agrees. "And then- wait." He narrows his eyes at his friend. "Were you being sarcastic?"

"No, not at all." Ryou lies. "Carry on."

"Ryyyyyyooooouuu!" Yugi whines dramatically.

Ryou sighs again and sets aside his book. "Yugi, just tell me one thing. And be truthful."

Yugi nods. "Okay. What?"

"What's so bad about Yami trying to be your friend?" Ryou asks seriously.

"What's so bad! Ryou! He's one of  _them_!" Yugi says as if it's the most obvious thing in the world.

"One of them." Ryou repeats dryly. "Alright, tell me one other thing. Who is this 'them'? And I swear if you say 'aliens' or 'the little people' then I am kicking you out of my apartment and taking back the key I gave you."

Yugi snorts. "Aliens? Of all the nonsense… No it's not aliens! Are you crazy!"

"So it's the 'little people' then?" Ryou asks, somehow managing to keep a straight face.

Yugi grabs one of the small couch pillows and bops Ryou on the head with it. "For the love of cheese, no!"

Ryou steals the pillow from Yugi and hits him back before putting it behind him. "For the love of cheese? Have you been reading American comics again?"

"No!" Yugi exclaims. "And we're off topic!"

Ryou sighs. _'Darn, I had hoped he'd forgotten.'_ "Alright, so who is this 'them'?"

"Do I have to elaborate?" Yugi asks.

Ryou narrows his eyes. "You don't know, do you." He states.

"At the moment, no…" Yugi says. "Give me a while and I'll think of a good excuse."

A smile spreads across Ryou's face and he starts laughing, which makes Yugi stare at him in surprise.

"Ryou, are you alright?" Yugi asks worriedly.

Ryou's laughter slowly fades as he looks up at Yugi. "I'm fine.  _And_ I know what's wrong. You like him, don't you?"

"I don't like him, Ryou! Haven't I made that clear!" Yugi shouts in disbelief.

"No, I mean you  _like_ him." Ryou emphasizes the word 'like'. "That's why you don't like spending time around him. It's because you're afraid that you'll blurt out that you have a crush on him!"

"I-I-" Yugi looks away in defeat. "Maybe you're right… But what do I do? I can't be around him without driving myself crazy!"

Ryou shrugs and picks up his book. "I don't know." He says honestly. "I've never been in love before."

"Arrrrg!" Yugi leans back on the couch, letting his head hit the hard back with a thunk. "Ow." He mutters.

Ryou shakes his head in amusement and turns the page of his book.  _'Only Yugi.'_ He thinks affectionately.  _'Only Yugi.'_

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Hey moneybags!"

Seto grumbles something under his breath and tries his best to ignore the blonde who's trying to get his attention.

"Kaiba, you in there?" Joey asks, poking the CEO in the side.

Seto glares at Joey. "Stop it, mutt." Then he goes right back to his work, wondering what god he pissed off to have the annoying blonde continue to hover around him and disrupt his work.

"Kaiba, I'm bored." Joey complains, enjoying teasing the brunette. It's not everyday that he has a chance to be in the CEO's home. And without any arguments either.

"So go chase a cat or bury a bone or something." Seto mutters.  _'Damn, I feel a headache beginning.'_

Joey growls and punches Seto lightly in the shoulder, not wanting to make his History partner too angry with him. "Stop it with the dog jokes or I'll start in on you."

Seto scoffs. "Sure, puppy. As if you could really think of an actual good insult."

"Seahorse." Joey coughs.

Seto stiffens. "What?"

Joey looks innocently at him. "I didn't say anything." He says cheerfully. "So, shouldn't we get to work on that project?"

"I've already finished it." Seto says.

"But I didn't do anything!" Joey protests. "This was suppose to be a partner activity!"

Seto looks from his work over to Joey with a raises eyebrow. "So you're complaining that I did all the work? If you want, you can do it yourself and have both of us fail."

Joey falls silent. "You're not gonna tell the teacher that I did nothing, are you?"

Seto rolls his eyes and goes back to work. "Why would I do that?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?" Joey asks.

Seto thinks about it for a minute and then shakes his head. "No. Not particularly."

"Okay, good." Joey says. "Because I wasn't entirely sure what I was gonna say anything. Well, I didn't have anything planned to say. I'm sure I could have come up with some idea or another. I'm smart like that."

"Wheeler."

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2_

Mariku curses loudly as he stumbles out of the apartment that he shares with his dad. Ignoring the angry yelling behind him about him being ungrateful, he makes his way out of the apartment building and to a place he knows he'll be safe. All the while he cradles something wrapped in an old towel close to his chest.

Normal people wouldn't think to venture through the city streets of Domino at night all alone, but Mariku's never been one you could call normal. He has odd mood swings that border on bipolor most of the time and when you add in that with his looks- his spiky sandy blonde hair, dark skin, and deep purple eyes- he's anything but normal.

Coming to the door of the café, he bangs on the door loudly, knowing that Nixx, Roman, and Alexandrian live directly above the café and will hear the noise. Sure enough, the three boys creep down the stairs along with Ash, who's hiding behind Nixx. Roman has a baseball bat and Alexandrian has a golf club.

Ash is the first to recognize who it is at the door. "Mariku!" She gasps, rushing forward to let him in. She notices a bruise forming on her friend's cheek and turns around to face the three brothers. "Nixx, go get some ice. Alex, can you bring a chair over here? Roman, stay here and help me."

Nixx runs off to go back upstairs for ice while Alexandrian pulls a chair over for Mariku to sit on, which the blonde sits down on gratefully.

"What's this?" Ash asks, gesturing to the towel.

Mariku bites his lip as he lifts away part of the towel. "I found her yesterday and took her home. That  _man_ found out about her earlier."

Ash squeals when she sees what Mariku's carrying. "A kitty! She's adorable, Mariku! She studies the spots on the cat's fur for a moment. "But… is she a Mau?" She asks as Nixx returns with the ice in a baggy and a washcloth for Mariku.

Mariku nods and puts the washcloth over the baggy of ice before setting it on his cheek. "Yeah…. Tell me, do you guys ever get any apartment notices on your board?" He asks. "I've decided to move out." He winces when the coolness of the ice seeps through the cloth and freezes his cheek.

"It's about time." Roman says. "And yes. But there's just one. There's someone named 'Bakura Khalid' who's looking for either one or two roommates. And apparently someone who's lost a cat."

"I ran into him on my way to visit the Game Shop." Ash says. "He noticed my uniform and asked if there was a board I could put this on. He seemed pretty upset about it. Come to think of it, he looked a bit like you, Mariku."

Roman mock-gasps. "I don't believe it! There's another person in the world with hair like  _his_!"

Ash gives Roman an exasperated look. " _No_." She emphasizes. "He just has the same hair color and was about the same height. And he was cuter than any of you. Except for Nixx." She teases.

Nixx grins. "Yup! 'Cause I'm the cutest!"

While Roman, Nixx, and Ash get into a strange argument that's most likely derived from sleepiness, Mariku turns to Alexandrian. "Where's the phone."

"Around the corner. There's a chair beside it that Ash uses all the time." Alexandrian says. "Do you want both of the papers?"

Mariku nods. "Yeah. Now I just have to hope I'm not waking anyone up who will kill me for doing so." He mutters under his breath.

0-0-0-0-0-0

A phone rings in a dark apartment and the occupant of it utters a dark curse as he stumbles out of his warm bed and journeys across his bedroom to get the phone.

"Whoever the hell you are you'd better have a good excuse for waking me up!" He yells into the phone.

" _Well forgive me for waking you up with an offer on the apartment roommate notice."_  A voice on the other line says crossly.

Bakura curses and switches the phone to his other ear. "I'm listening."

The person on the other line takes a breath.  _"Look, I probably can't pay enough to take care of half the bill. The most I can spend on rent is 7300 (1) yen a month if I still want enough to pay for the rest of the crap I need."_

"That's only a third." Bakura says.

" _The poster said one or two roommates."_  The guy sounds a little cross. _"Look, I'll help find the other roommate and if we can't find one, then I'll work two jobs and work weekends to help pay for it."_

Bakura grumbles something under his breath as he scrawls a few things down on the pad of sticky notes setting by the phone. "Fine. When are you moving in?"

There's silence on the other end for a moment.  _"Just like that?"_

If Bakura could glare at the person on the other end, he would. For now he has to settle on glaring at his phone. "It's 1 in the morning, what the hell do you expect? How about this; meet me tomorrow morning at the Lexus Café at eight. If you're late, you can forget about moving in. What's your name?"

" _Mariku Leil."_

Bakura jots this down. "Tomorrow we meet and discuss. Call me before then, and I will kill you." With that he hangs up and crawls back into his bed, grumbling about idiots calling in the middle of the night.

0-0-0-0-0-0

"Mariku, help me out here! I'm completely swamped!" Ash says over the morning crowd. "Alexandrian and Nixx ditched me and Roman's not helping at all!" She glares at the black-haired owner, who just smirks in response.

Mariku boredly strokes the top of the head of the cat he found. "Can't."

Ash pouts. "Aww, c'mon. Please, Mariku? Pretty pretty please?"

"No." Mariku says.

"Miss! Do you have that coffee I asked for?" A customer calls.

Ash sighs and grabs her tray, which has several cups of coffee on it. "Right away, ma'am!" She calls, before bustling off to hand out the coffee.

Mariku watches in amusement as Ash gets half of the orders messed up, gives the wrong coffee to the wrong person, and has to apologize to every one of the customers. Then he starts snickering when a group of people wanders into the café and Ash curses her luck.

"DAMN IT ROMAN!" She yells. "Get your brothers on the phone and tell them to get back here now! I'm going to go insane having to do all of this myself!"

Roman smirks. "All you had to do was ask."

Ash growls. "Evil sadistic bastard."

0-0-0-0-0-0

Elsewhere, Alexandrian and Nixx are walking down the road with bags of groceries. Nixx is staring off into space murmuring something about 'the pretty long-haired boy' every now and then. Alexandrian is beginning to find it more and more annoying as the second goes by.

' _Must remain calm, must remain calm.'_  Alexandrian tells himself _. 'Just because Nixx has been rambling about the kid ever since he saw him a few days ago, doesn't mean you can get all worked up and annoyed over it. He'll forget about the kid as soon as he sees someone else who's pretty and then things will go back to normal. Or as normal as things get.'_ He sighs _. 'Who am I kidding? Things can only get worse from here. It's only a matter of time before Nixx sees the kid again and tries to stalk him.'_

A gasp from Nixx takes Alexandrian out of his thoughts just in time to see a black hair boy run past carrying a silver briefcase.

"It-it's him!" Nixx clasps his hands together and stares dreamily after the boy. "I want to say hello…" He starts walking after his crush, only to be held back by Alexandrian.

"Nixx, you are not going to stalk the boy like Roman stalks Ash!" Alexandrian says. "Leave him alone."

Nixx blinks, only focusing on part of the statement. "Roman stalks Ash?" A grin spreads across his face. "Ha! I knew he liked her! And he kept denying it too!"

Alexandrian rolls his eyes. "It's obvious to everyone but those two. Now lets get back to the café before something bad happens. Like Roman pissing off Ash so she winds up screaming curses and scaring the customers."

Nixx nods and then looks in the direction his crush disappeared to. "Fare thee well, beloved of mine! Perhaps we shall meet in another time, another pla-"

"NIXXUS!"

Nixx squeaks and hurries after Alexandrian. "Wait for me!"

0-0-0-0-0-0

Malik wanders the streets, peering into ally's and under dumpsters. "Here kitty kitty kitty!" He calls. "Bastet, where are you!" ' _Please don't be dead, please don't be dead! Isis will kill me if she finds out I accidentally let you out and you died as a result! She'll kill me if she finds out I let you out! Or worse!'_  Malik shudders at the thought of what his sister will do when she discovers her beloved cat missing.  _'I don't have long to find her. Just a day. One more day before I die. What a wonderful thought.'_

He searches for a while longer before decided to head home to check his messages and see if anyone called about the cat. All the while he thinks about ways to try and get out of this mess if he can't find the cat. He groans when he realizes that there's no way he'd get out of the mess.

' _I'm gonna die. I'm going to be tortured and then I'm going to die. There's no way around it. Please let someone have called about the cat. I really don't want to die. I'm too young!'_ He thinks desperately, as he walks into the apartment building he lives in.

He makes his way up the stairs, hoping that if he takes enough time someone will have called about the cat and left a message. All too soon, he reaches the door to his room and slowly unlocks it and walks in. Then he looks over at the answering machine, hoping to see a blinking light.

Malik's heart leaps in his chest when he sees the light blinking _. 'It's blinking. Oh great Ra it's blinking! Please be good news! Please be good news!'_ He rushes over to the machine and pushes the button. He pales when Isis's voice comes out of the device, and pales further when he hears what she has to say.

" _Hello little brother, I hope you are well. I know it was suppose to be tomorrow that I was to return, but things have changed a little and I will be arriving home this evening. I hope my precious is alright. You better not have done anything to my cat, Malik Ishtar! If I find out that something has happened to her_ you will pay _!"_

Malik gulps.

" _I'll see you this evening, little brother. Take care."_

The answering machine makes a clicking noise and then another message plays.

" _Ouch! Darn it Ash, knock it off!"_

Malik blinks.  _'What the hell?'_

" _Is this thing working? Guess it is… sorry about that. Umm, I really hope this is the right number. If it is, I found your cat; The Egyptian Mau. My name's Mariku Leil and- OUCH! She bit me!"_

Malik sweat drops as the boy curses loudly before continuing.

" _Look, just call me at…"_

Malik scrambles for a pencil and pad of paper to write down the number and the name of the boy.

"…  _and ask for Mariku Leil. I'll meet you wherever you want to give you back the cat. Goodbye."_

The answering machine makes a clicking noise for the second time, but Malik doesn't even pay attention to see if there are any messages left. Instead he sinks down onto a chair and breaths a sigh of relief.  _'Mariku Leil, whoever you are, you have just saved my life. Possibly.'_ He imagines his sister's reaction to finding out her cat went missing and winces.  _'Okay, definitely._ '

0-0-0-0-0-0

" _I don't know what to wear!"_

Ryou sighs heavily. "Yugi…"

" _What! I need to find something to wear! This is a serious problem, Ryou!"_  Yugi shouts through the phone.  _"You've got to help me!"_

Ryou glances around at the boxes all around in his house. "Yugi, you're not the only one with a serious problem, you know. I'm getting ready to move into the house with my sister."

" _BUT THIS IS A CRISIS!"_

Ryou holds the phone away from his ear until Yugi stops shouting and the ringing in his ear stops. When he thinks it's safe, he puts the phone back to his ear. "Alright, what's this crisis you're going on about?"

" _I agreed to hang out with_ him _! And now I don't know what to wear! I don't want to look stupid, but I don't want to overdue it! And did you know I have nothing to wear!"_

Ryou rolls his eyes before walking over to the mountainous heap of bubble wrap laying in a corner of the room. "Yugi, you have plenty to wear. Just wear what you usually do."

Yugi mumbles something.

"I didn't catch that." Ryou tells his friend, as he begins wrestling with the mountainous heap of bubble wrap in an attempt to find the end of it.

" _I said that all the clothes I normally wear are dirty! Grandpa forgot to remind me to do laundry this week."_

' _Only Yugi.'_ Ryou thinks, still fighting with the bubble wrap. "What about that black shirt Joey got you for Christmas? And the black pants?"

" _The leather ones with buckles?"_ Yugi asks.

"No Yugi, the ones with pink polka dots." Ryou says sarcastically.

There's a pause on Yugi's end.  _"Ryou, I don't have any pants like that."_

Ryou randomly rips the bubble wrap, tired of trying to find the end of it. "Yugi, that was called sarcasm. Do you not know what sarcasm is?"

" _No."_

"Good." Ryou looks around for something to wrap in the bubble wrap. "So wear the black shirt and pants that Joey gave you."

" _Then I'll look like him!"_  Yugi protests.  _"I don't want to look just like him! People will think I'm his little brother or something!"_

Ryou spots a ceramic cat setting all alone on a shelf and makes his way through the sea of boxes to it. "Fine then. Drop the shirt and find that light blue shirt with the puzzle pieces on it that I gave you for your birthday last year."

" _I haven't worn that in ages! It's perfect! If I could just find it…"_ There's a thud on Yugi's end that makes Ryou sigh lightly.  _"I'm alright!"_  Yugi tells his friend.  _"Don't worry about me. Oww. Ha! I found it! Take that you stupid box!"_

Ryou calmly wraps the ceramic cat in bubble wrap while listening to something fall and make a lot of noise on Yugi's end of the line.

" _Ryou, I've got to go. A box of my old toys just fell on my head. Oww. I think I'm bleeding. Grandpa! Help!"_

There's a click and then all Ryou hears is the dial tone. Calmly, the white-haired boy turns off the phone and tosses it onto the couch. Looking around the room he thinks,  _'Now what else can I wrap in bubble wrap?'_

0-0-0-0-0-0

An hour later Yugi paces nervously in the game shop, waiting for Yami to show up. There's a bandage on his head from where he started bleeding because of the box of toys that fell on him.

"Yugi, calm down." His grandpa says. "I'm sure he has an excellent excuse as to why he's late."

Yugi continues pacing.

The bells rings above the shop door and Yugi stops his pacing to look and see who it is. He nearly smiles when he sees that it's Yami instead of another customer again.

Yami smiles at his look alike. "Hello Yugi. Sorry I'm late."

Yugi just shrugs, refusing to show how nervous he is. "It's fine. Where are we going?"

"The arcade. I want to see if you're as good as you claim." Yami says.

This time Yugi does smile, excited at the prospect of a new challenger. Both Ryou and Joey now refuse to go against him since he always wins, but maybe Yami can pose a challenge. "Sounds like fun!" He says cheerfully, before he turns to face his grandpa. "I'll be back before dark, grandpa!"

His grandpa smiles. "Have fun, Yugi."

"I will grandpa!"

Less than a minute later, the two are gone from the shop, leaving Yugi's grandpa alone. The old man hums a tune under his breath and begins bustling about the shop, restocking some of the shelves.

0-0-0-0-0-0

Back at the café, Alexandrian and Nixx have returned and Mariku and Bakura have formally met. Neither Bakura nor Mariku are very happy. At all.

"So let me get this straight." Bakura says, narrowing his eyes. "You currently work one job at the pet store further downtown, you got kicked out of the last place you lived, and you have a cat."

Mariku scowls. "I told you that it's not my cat! I found it out on the streets and took it in!"

Bakura crosses his arms over his chest. "I refuse to share an apartment room with an animal lover."

"It's a cat! I had to take it in! And do you know what kind of cat this is? This is an Egyptian Mau! They're sacred where I come from! We have a cat goddess where I come from!" Mariku rants. "I could care less about the damn rabid squirrels in the park! Hell, those are fun to shoot at and throw kitchen knives at! And don't get me started on the damn pigeons!"

Now Bakura raises an eyebrow. "Well, it looks like we do have something in common. How do you feel about the park ducks?"

Mariku slams a fist down onto the table he and Bakura are sitting at. "They should burn in Hell! But in the meantime, I throw rocks at them. It's fun."

The conversation continues with the two discussing what they like to do for fun. Slowly, people around them leave early, frightened by the two's conversation.

And then Mariku laughs. And it's not his normal half-hearted laughs or his maniacal 'lets-blow-up-the-park-creatures' laugh.

Ash, Nixx, Roman, and Alexandrian stop what they're doing to look at the sandy-blonde Egyptian in shock and awe, having never heard him actually laugh before.

Bakura waits for Mariku to stop laughing before he smirks and holds out a hand. "So when are you moving in?"

Mariku grins and takes Bakura hand, shaking it. "I hope today's good. Partner."

Bakura raises an eyebrow. "Partner?"

Mariku nods excitedly. "Yeah! We can be partners in crime! Wanna go throw rocks at the ducks before I smuggle some stuff from my old place?"

"Why not. It sounds like fun." Bakura says.

Ash groans when the two of them walk out of the café together. "We're all doomed, aren't we? I've only seen Mariku in a mood like that once, and the results were not at all pretty."

"You're talking about the time Mariku fed a bunch of rice to the pigeons and made them blow up, aren't you?" Nixx asks.

Ash shudders. "A sight I never wish to see again."

There's a moment of silence amongst the four of them.

"Back to work!" Roman says loudly. "Nixx, Ash, you have tables to wait on! Get to it!"

"Yes, oh powerful wise one." Ash says sarcastically, grabbing a couple of menus.

And so the day continues.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Mariku has officially moved in with Bakura by the end of the day. He even has enough time to get his favorite things from the apartment he used to live in. Now he's sitting in the park waiting for the owner of the Egyptian Mau to show up. He has the cat with him, of course, and Bakura's with him as well. While Mariku's sitting down on a bench trying to keep the cat from running away, Bakura's slinging rocks at the squirrels in the area using his handy Sling Shot of Doom.

Five minutes pass. And then ten.

Finally, Malik shows up with a red mark on his cheek from where Isis threw a spoon and various other objects at him. Bakura raises an eyebrow, but says nothing and instead knocks another squirrel out of a tree.

Mariku, on the other hand, can't resist saying something about the red mark. "What the hell happened to you?"

Malik glares at his double, but the glare fades to a surprised look when he notices how much the other boy looks like him. He gets over it quickly when he sees the cat asleep on the bench. "My sister is what happened. Can I take the cat and get home now? I'd rather not die in my sleep because I failed to bring the cat home with me."

"Just tell me one thing first." Mariku says. "What's her name?"

"Bastet." Malik replies. "My sister named her which is a good thing because I would have come up with a stupid name like 'Cookie' or something."

Mariku snickers a little, but turns it into a cough when he notices Malik glaring at him. "Alright. Take the pretty-kitty and go. I'd hate for you to get killed by your  _sister_."

Malik ignores Mariku and picks up Bastet, cradling her in his arms, and then he starts heading for home.

"Hey kid!" Mariku calls after him. "If you ever run into trouble, give me a call!"

Bakura turns to look at Mariku with a raised eyebrow while Malik stops and turns around in surprise. He quickly gets over it and nods and then makes his way back home. Isis will be very happy to see her kitty alive and well, although she won't be all that happy with Malik for loosing her in the first place.

"Hey Mariku, lets go to the arcade!" Bakura suggests. "I want to see if the 'Pharaoh' is there so can kick his ass at one of the games."

Mariku snorts. He's heard of the "legendary" Pharaoh and Tomb Robber and their crazy game wars at the arcade, although he's never actually witnessed one of the "battles".  _'Now's as good a time as any.'_  He thinks _. 'And maybe I'll find someone to challenge. It's been a while.'_

0-0-0-0

_The Arcade._

"Damn it, I lost again!" Bakura angrily yells. "You cheated you stupid fucking game!"

Mariku raises an eyebrow as Bakura begins cussing out the game he was playing because he lost for the third time.

While Bakura is cussing out the game and Mariku is listening in half amusement and half fear-for-his-roommates-sanity, Yami and Yugi have entered the arcade together. Well, sort of together. Yugi is trying to maintain a two-foot distance between them at all times and it's not working too well.

As if they have a radar system that hones in on one another, Bakura and Yami spot one another at the exact same time. Bakura even stops cursing.

The arcade falls silent as the two gaming rivals stare down one another.

"Pharaoh! I challenge you to air hockey!" Bakura yells across the room. "And I will beat you this time!"

"In your dreams, Thief King." Yami replies with a cocky smirk. He glances down at Yugi. "You don't mind if I take his challenge, do you?"

Yugi looks shocked that Yami even asked him and then shakes his head. "Go ahead."

Yami smiles. "Great." Then he looks back at Bakura and points a finger at his rival. "I accept your challenge! Prepare to be defeated!"

The crowd of gamers clear a path for Bakura and Yami as they head to the vacant air hockey table. Both of them put in fifty cents and then take their places.

Bakura gets the first serve.

The puck speeds toward Yami's side of the table at an incredible speed. Yami barely manages to block, sending the puck speeding into the side of the table and then toward Bakura's goal.

Bakura slams it back to Yami, only to have the puck zoom around Yami's goal and slingshot into his.

Bakura curses.

Yami smirks. "Point."

Bakura puts the puck back on the table and hits it so hard it goes flying off the table and hits Yami square in the head.

Bakura laughs while Yami scowls and picks the puck up off the floor. When he stands up again and finds Bakura still laughing he narrows his crimson eyes and then chucks the puck at Bakura's head.

"Head's up!"

Bakura pulls a Matrix-like move and leans backwards to avoid being hit. Then he does a back flip, just for show, and stands back up.

The crowd claps as Bakura bows and then goes to retrieve the puck.

And so it continues. Back and forth, through the air, disappeared into Yami's hair, stuck in one of the pockets on Bakura's trench coat, and through the glass of the window goes the puck. The last one results in the end of the game and a six-month banning from the arcade.

Bakura and Mariku head back to the park, where Bakura sulks over losing once again. Meanwhile, Yami and Yugi walk aimlessly around the city.

"I'm sorry about the whole 'getting kicked out of the arcade' thing." Yami apologizes. "I had no idea that Bakura was going to be there or I would have suggested we go someplace else." He glances down at Yugi when the smaller boy says nothing. His eyes take on a playful glint. "Say, that's an interesting shirt. It looks good on you."

Yugi blushes at the complement.

"You have anything special planned for tonight?" Yami asks.

Yugi looks at Yami in confusion. "Huh?"

"Well, you're shirt is more fancy than what I've seen you in before." Yami says. "And I'm sure you didn't get dressed up for me."

To his surprise, Yugi's blush deepens and the smaller looks determinedly at the ground.

"Yugi?" Yami prods. "Something wrong?"

Yugi takes a step away from Yami and shakes his head. "N-no." He stutters, looking everywhere except at Yami. "I'm fine. Everything's fine! Really! I just-  _IreallyshouldgethomesoonsoIdon'tblurtoutanythingstupidliketellingyouI-"_ Yugi smacks a hand over his mouth with a horrified look on his face.

Now Yami is beginning to suspect something that he only wished would happen.  _'Could it be? I've been trying to get his attention ever since I moved year two years ago and it's finally happened?'_  "Like telling me you what?" Yami prods, rather enjoying watching Yugi squirm under the pressure.

"Nothing!" Yugi practically yells. "Nothing, nothing!" And then he clams up, refusing to say anything else to Yami.

Yami sighs lightly and looks away, putting a sad look on his face. "Well, it's not like you dressed up for me or anything. Somehow I get the feeling you don't even like me…"

Yugi looks up at Yami, his eyes wide. "That's not true! I do like you. A lot!" He blurts out.

The two are silent for a minute while Yami looks at Yugi in shock and Yugi just looks shocked.

' _I didn't think that would actually work.'_ Yami thinks.

"I- I'm sorry!" Yugi shouts, his face turning bright red. "Excuse me." He tries to leave to go back home and lock himself in his room for the rest of the day and most of the next day, but Yami foils his plan by grabbing his arm and pulling him back and close to him.

Yami leans down, his breath ghosting past Yugi's cheek, and whispers, "I like you too." and then kisses him gently on the lips.

If Yugi was red before, it's nothing compared to now.

0-0-0-0

_Monday- 6:15_

**Yugi's House**

Yami quietly creeps up the stairs to his beloved Yugi's room after Grandpa lets him in and slowly opens the door to Yugi's bedroom. Peeking in, he spots the smaller boy cuddled up in his blankets hugging a Kuriboh plushy. He smiles softly, finding the sight adorable.  _'If only I didn't have to wake him up.'_  Yami sighs and continues across the room until he's right beside Yugi's bed. "Yuuugiiii!" He sings in a whisper.

And then he pounces. Quite literally.

Squeals of joy can be heard throughout the house as Yugi awakens to find Yami in his bed, shortly followed by the sound of giggling and laughing as Yami begins tickling Yugi to make sure he'll stay awake.

Downstairs Yugi's grandpa smiles, glad that Yugi has such a nice "friend".

0-0-0-0

**Ryou's New House**

Ryou slowly drifts into wakefulness to find his little sister hovering over him and nearly screams in shock. Instead of screaming, however, he instead rolls off the side of the bed and lands with a heavy 'thump!' on the floor. Amane erupts into giggles, finding the sight most amusing.

"Oh, very funny, Amane." Ryou mutters, sitting up and glaring at her. "Now please get out so I can get dressed."

Amane nods. "Okay. But hurry, breakfast is ready and I don't want it to get cold!" She says cheerfully, before skipping out of the room.

Ryou sighs and gets up and starts getting ready for school, all the while wondering how Amane can be so hyper in the morning. After running a brush through his soft white hair a few times just to smooth it out, he heads out to the kitchen where Amane is already eating her breakfast.

Ryou sits down with her and begins eating as well, but it's not until he's drinking his chocolate milk that Amane says anything.

"So Ryou, who's this 'Malik' person who's name you were mumbling in your sleep?" Amane asks deviously.

Ryou promptly chokes on his drink, his entire face going bright red. "W-what? What are you talking about, Amane? I don't know anyone named Malik." He lies. "You must be imagining things."

Amane giggles. "Ryou has a crush! Ryou has a crush!"

"I do not!"

For the rest of the morning, Ryou has to put up with Amane teasing him about his sleep talking.

0-0-0-0

**Kaiba Mansion**

Mokuba and Joey stare at the plate of burnt toast that's set down in front of them and then up at Seto, who scowls back at them.

"What?"

Mokuba looks back down at the toast and makes a face. "Seto, I don't think it's suppose to be black like that."

"Yeah, Kaiba. This has to be the most pathetic thing I've ever seen." Joey comments. "Don't you know how to cook right?"

Seto's left eye twitches. "Shut up, Wheeler."

"I mean, even my dad could cook better than that and I doubt he's ever cooked a day in his life!" Joey continues, oblivious to Seto's growing anger.

Mokuba joins in, enjoying having someone to help him tease his big brother. "Seto, I bet even  _Pegasus_ can make better toast. And that's saying something."

Seto growls and picks up a butter knife. "You two… I have one word of advice for you."

Mokuba and Joey both look confused. "Huh?"

"Run."

Joey and Mokuba bolt from the kitchen table immediately and run away laughing. Seto chases after them yelling at them for teasing him about his horrible cooking.

0-0-0-0

**The Psychos' Apartment**

If you thought things were crazy over at the Kaiba Mansion, then you haven't seen the mornings at Bakura and Mariku's apartment.

Starting early in the morning with both of them half asleep they both stumble to the bathroom to take their morning showers. Or at least they try to. Neither of them quite make it as they wind up crashing flat into one another right outside the bathroom door. After that things only get worse. And they do.

After fifteen minutes of fighting over who gets to use the bathroom first, Bakura gets fed up with the argument and shoves Mariku out of the way, slamming the taller boy into the wall, and storms into the bathroom and shuts and locks the door behind him.

While Bakura's taking his morning shower, Mariku is busy banging on the bathroom door while screaming and cursing at Bakura. Because of this, Bakura takes even longer than usual just to spite Mariku. He also uses up most of the hot water, which is what starts another fight ten minutes after Mariku gets into the bathroom to take his shower.

And then begins the argument about breakfast and what they're going to eat and who's going to make it. Eventually it's decided that they'll both make their own breakfast, to avoid the temptation of poisoning one another.

Of course, something else has to happen once the two settle down (somewhat) and begin eating breakfast.

The doorbell rings.

This spurs on another argument, this one of who will answer the door. It ends up being Mariku who has to answer the door as he was glared into submission by Bakura. And poor Mariku, when he opens the door the person on the other side swings it the rest of the way open, hitting Mariku in the head with said door, and steps in.

"I heard you were looking for a third roommate." Malik glumly says, tossing his bag onto the floor. "Well here I am. My sister kicked me out because I was a minute late bringing home her 'precious kitty'."

"There's a small problem of you having nowhere to sleep." Bakura comments with a smirk, watching Mariku sulk over the bruise forming on his head. "There's only two bedrooms."

Malik shrugs. "That's fine. I'll just take his." He gestures to Mariku. "I guess I'll go put my stuff in his previous room."

Bakura's smirk grows wider. "It's the door on the left."

Mariku stares at Bakura with an expression of shock and anger on his face. "You…"

"Thanks!" Malik cheerfully walks off to his new room to put his stuff away. The sound of something heavy tossed out into the hallway is heard seconds after the blonde goes into the room.

Bakura chuckles. "I think I like that kid."

"M-my room!" Mariku whimpers. "He took my room!" His eyes darken. "That's it! Blondie's going to die!"

In the next five minutes, there's nothing but pure and utter chaos as Mariku first screams at Malik through the bedroom door and then proceeds to chase his double out of the apartment and all the way to school. Bakura follows, happily causing more chaos as he zooms past on his motorcycle through a water puddle and splashes the two blonde Egyptian's.

And so it begins.


End file.
